Mickey Dolenz, the last surviving member of the '60s pop band The Monkees, is suing the FBI.
Dolenz, now 77, wants the federal law enforcement agency to release information it collected on the band and its members. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Dolenz originally filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the FBI documents, and filed suit when no information was forthcoming.
Dolenz's lawyer, Mark Zaid, said the suit aims to force the FBI to disclose the records it collected on the group, including "a 1967 Los Angeles Field Office memorandum on anti–Vietnam War activities and a second document redacted entirely."
The Monkees rose to fame as the eponymous band on the NBC sitcom The Monkees, which centered on the fictional antics of a rock 'n' roll band.
Their television debut in 1966 turned the group into overnight rock stars, with chart-topping albums and #1 hits, including "Last Train to Clarksville," "I'm a Believer," and "Daydream Believer."
The band was made up of Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith. Since Nesmith's death in December 2021, Dolenz is the last living member.
With the success of the show, the band embarked on a lengthy concert tour on which members sang many of their own songs and played their own instruments before crowds of adoring fans. Jimi Hendrix was sometimes their opening act. The group broke up in 1970.
According to Dolenz's lawsuit, the FBI "maintains responsive records regarding the Monkees, including information that continues to be withheld."
FBI records online show seven highly redacted pages on The Monkees, including reports from an FBI agent who apparently attended a 1967 concert.
"'The Monkees' concert was using a device in the form of a screen set up behind the performers, who played certain instruments and sang as a 'combo,'" the agent wrote.
"During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which in the opinion of [agent's name redacted], constituted 'left-wing innovations of a political nature,'" the file reads. "These messages and pictures were flashes of riots in Berkeley, anti-US messages on the war in Vietnam, racial riots in Selma, Alabama, and similar messages which had received unfavorable response from the audience."
Zaid provided a statement to USA Today, saying he came to the case as "as a lifelong fan of the Monkees for half a century." He is an expert in Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts, according to his firm's website. Zaid was part of the legal team representing the whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry against former president Donald Trump in 2019.
Zaid says the Monkees' lawsuit "seeks to expose why the FBI was monitoring the Monkees and/or its individual members."
"We know the mid-to-late 1960s saw the FBI surveil Hollywood anti-war advocates and those who represented the counterculture of the flower/hippie/drug use movement," Zaid's statement reads. "And the Monkees were in the thick of things, spending time with musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon, both of whom were in the sights of J. Edgar Hoover."
He added that he wants the FBI "to reveal its secret Monkees files and help the public learn more about an important era of American history."